For the first time, the Grec Festival of Barcelona hosts the award ceremony for one of Catalonia's longest-standing theatre prizes, which rewards the season's most outstanding performance by a female actress. The winner is Mónica López
The winner was announced on July 4 at an event in Molins de Rei. The award ceremony will then take place at the Theatre Institute at 7.30 pm on July 18, when the most outstanding actress of the season will receive the Xirgu Ring. Carles Batlle (Theatre Institute) will open the ceremony. Then, Ignasi Roda, president of Agrupació Dramàtica de Barcelona, which organises the prize, will remember previous recipients of this prestigious prize, a list that includes the likes of María Fernanda D’Ocón, Mercè Bruquetas, Núria Espert, Anna Lizaran, Julia and Irene Gutiérrez Caba, Rosa Novell, Julieta Serrano, Mercè Arànega, Sílvia Bel, Carmen Machi and Teresa Vallicrosa, to name just a few past Xirgu Prize winners.
After this introduction, last year’s winner, Teresa Vallicrosa, will present the Xirgu Ring to this season’s recipient, Mónica López. Why a ring? Well, according to an Elizabethan theatre tradition, when an actor retired, he gave his ring to another, younger actor, his successor, as it were. This ritual was repeated from generation to generation, always with the same ring. The Xirgu Ring, however, is personalised.
Next, Mario Gas, a speaker chosen by this year’s winner, will eulogise the actress, and excerpts will be shown from the 1938 film Blood Wedding, directed by Edmundo Guibourg and starring Margarida Xirgu and Enrique Diosdado, among others.
The ceremony will then be officially closed by Joan Ramon Casals, mayor of Molins de Rei, Margarida Xirgu’s birthplace, which sponsors the prize. Following this, the guests will assemble in Plaça de Margarida Xirgu, where Josepmiquel Servià will recite Pleonasme (a poem to the actresses) and the Xirgu Plaque in honour of the winner will be unveiled. This plaque will join the forty-two others already installed in Ronda de les Actrius, for this prize, launched by Pere Pausas and the Penya Carlos Lemos group, since dissolved, has a history that already spans forty-two years. Finally, Ramon Simó, director of the Grec Festival of Barcelona, will close the event until next year, not forgetting to invite all present to taste the delicious Coca Xirgu.
